Chapter Two #2
I took the next corner too fast. Knew it the second I committed to the lean.
The woman nearly lost her grip on me, her body sliding to the outside of the turn.
I felt her weight shift wrong. She screamed loud enough for me to hear over the engine, and then she clamped her arms around me hard enough to hurt.
We came out of the turn with her plastered against my back and my heart hammering.
The headlight appeared again, closer now. Close enough that I could make out the rider’s outline in my mirror. He’d been playing with us before, keeping distance. Now he was closing.
We came out of the corridor. The street ahead looked clear other than cracked asphalt and a long straightaway that would take us to the compound’s perimeter.
I started to accelerate hard… Then saw the gravel.
A patch of loose stone and sand spread across the road. Maybe ten feet wide, right in our line.
I tried to adjust, tried to thread through the edge of it where the asphalt looked cleaner.
But I was going too fast and had already committed to my line.
The front wheel hit the gravel and I felt the traction let go.
The bike slid sideways, rear end coming around.
I fought it, but my passenger shifted her weight wrong with the sudden, unexpected movement and the bike went out from under us.
The world tilted. I pushed away from the bike as we went down, trying to separate from the machine.
I twisted to wrap my arms around the woman.
I didn’t quite make it before we hit the pavement.
I slammed into the ground on my shoulder and hip with enough force to knock the air out of my lungs.
She cried out as we rolled. I managed to pull her more solidly in my arms to protect her as much as I could.
We came to a stop against a loading dock’s concrete base, somehow managing to hit with my back instead of sending the woman face first into the wall.
The bike slid past us in a shower of sparks and grinding metal, finally stopping about twenty feet away.
The woman groaned, blood from a cut at her hair line and road rash on her cheek dripped down her face.
Her gun had skittered away across the pavement, lying in the middle of the street about fifteen feet from her.
I raked my gaze over her quickly, checking for anything obvious.
“You hurt?” I didn’t see anything but the cuts and abrasions on her face and arm.
Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. “Hey. Look at me, honey.” I snapped my fingers.
When she shook her head but couldn’t quite clear it, I lightly slapped her cheek. “Eyes on me. Now.”
She met my gaze and nodded once, just a tiny movement of her chin. “I’m here.”
“Can you stand?”
“I -- I think so.”
The headlight appeared at the end of the street, slowing as the rider spotted the wrecked bike. He stopped about forty yards away, dismounting his bike at an angle. When he did, I caught the patch on the back of his cut. Steel Serpents.
I drew my weapon, a smooth pull from the shoulder holster. The Steel Serpents rider saw it and reached for his own gun too late. I fired twice in rapid succession. The first shot punched through his front tire. The second took him in the shoulder and sent him spinning.
His weapon discharged into the air as he went down, the muzzle flash bright in the dark. His bike tipped, clattering to the broken pavement.
Then silence fell around us. My ears rang from the gunshots but I still heard the distant sound of the port, machinery moving and metal scraping.
I kept my weapon trained on the downed rider for a ten-count, watching for movement.
He rolled onto his side, clutching his shoulder, and his bike started leaking fuel onto the pavement in a dark spreading pool.
The shot to his tire must have ricocheted and hit the gas tank.
His gun had landed some distance away when I’d shot him.
I hurried to the weapon and retrieved it along with the woman’s gun before walking back to her.
She’d made it to her feet and watched me approach with sharp focus.
I stopped about five feet away and held out her weapon butt-first. She looked at it for a long moment. Then she reached out and took it.
I pulled my phone and called Knight. “Need a pickup and I’m heavy two.”
“I got you, Griffin. Tiny’s on the way with the Bronco. Three minutes.”
I looked at the woman. She stood with her back against the concrete, gun held in both hands now despite the blood running down her right palm. Her gaze moved between me and the downed Steel Serpents rider. The rider wasn’t moving much, but he was still breathing and still armed as far as we knew.
“Backup’s en route,” I said. “Come here.”
She nodded but didn’t lower the gun. Just stood there shaking, blood on her face, her sleeve torn open and her eyes too bright.
She’d been through the wringer tonight and it showed in every line of her body.
I couldn’t take the weapon from her or she’d probably lose her shit, but I had no intention of getting shot on accident either.
“You gonna shoot me?” She looked from me to the downed rider who had now rolled to his knees.
He groaned in pain and collapsed back onto his uninjured shoulder.
Then she shook her head. I gave her a crisp nod before turning my back to her to assess the downed bike and the rider, along with the pool of gasoline surrounding him.
The Steel Serpent prick finally managed to sit up, bracing his back against the downed bike.
I have no idea why he hadn’t already gotten to his feet, but then I saw blood caked on one side of his face and the guy looked more than a little dazed.
Also, the shoulder wound I’d given him bled more than I thought it should.
I’d probably gotten a major artery close to his armpit. Stroke of luck, but I’d take it.
The rider groaned once, low and pained, then went quiet again. Sweat beaded on his face. I knew the guy was probably close to passing out from blood loss. Sucked for him.
“You killed him?” The woman looked more than a little shell-shocked, but not like she’d run screaming into the night.
“Shot him. He might live.” I shrugged. “Or not.”
She processed that, her jaw working. Then she watched the street, scanning for more headlights. Her grip on the gun never loosened.
“Look.” I crouched down beside her, still keeping an eye on the bleeding man, but needing to get some information from the girl.
“I know this is extreme. But I took you with me. Which means I’ll keep you safe until you prove you’re a deplorable human being.
Are you?” She shook her head. “Good. Then you’re safe with me and my club.
Now, will you tell me your name? I don’t like calling you ‘woman’ in my head.
” I tried to give her a small smile, but my usual easy-going nature deserted me.
“Veda. Veda Garrison.”
“Colt Mercer. But everyone calls me Griffin.”
“You’re like him?” Veda nodded at the Steel Serpent who had stilled.
I studied her, trying to read her. For some reason she kept rubbing the center of her chest and I was afraid she might have been hurt more than I’d originally thought.
If I lied to her now and she found out, I’d have a hell of a time getting her to the compound.
I had the feeling we desperately needed to talk to this woman.
“Ain’t gonna lie to you, Veda. There is a strong possibility I will kill him later.
But not just because. I’d kill him because I know what he represents and what he’s capable of.
I’m not a good man, but I have morals and principles.
I don’t hurt people who don’t deserve it, and if I have to kill a woman, I make sure it’s a clean, quick death. And only if my president tells me to.”
“That’s not exactly reassuring.” Her eyes widened and she still held the gun, but she’d clutched it to her chest with her arms trapping it against her instead of pointing it at me.
“I’m just trying to give you the strict truth, honey, because I really need you to come with me back to our compound. If I lie to you, the less likely you are to trust me.”
“Why do you want me to come with you?”
“Because you were in the building.”
She shook her head. “I’m not with those people.”
“Didn’t say you were. But I was sent there to shut that place down, which I suppose was accomplished, but I’d planned on being a little more subtle about the whole thing.”